


A Contest

by mcmissiles



Series: TES Minifics [2]
Category: Elder Scrolls
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 07:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20254162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcmissiles/pseuds/mcmissiles
Summary: Llarala can't leave camp for five minutes, can she?





	A Contest

**Author's Note:**

> Another dialogue prompt response. Takes place a few years after the plot of Skyrim.

“How many soul gems can you fit in your mouth? My record is three.”

Margot made a face at the Khajiit and returned to drawing lines in the dirt with the stick she was holding. “Aunt Lala told me not to put soul gems in my mouth.”

“You have tried this before?”

“When I was little. She won’t let me touch them now.”

Inigo shook his head. “She’s no fun at all. Here, I have a few—” He opened his pack and let a small pile of gems fall out. “—if you’re up for a competition.”

Margot regarded the pile.

“Of course, if you’re scared, there’s no need to—”

Before he had even registered her movement, Margot was grinning up at him around the two gems in her mouth.

Inigo laughed and stuffed two gems of his own into his mouth. Struggling to close his jaw, he nodded to her. “Yer moo’.”

Margot carefully selected another gem from the pile and tilted her head to the side, screwing up her face in concentration as she crammed the gem in beside the others. With what might have been a mischievous grin if his mouth weren’t stuck half open, Inigo picked up two more gems and did the same. Margot shook her head and tried not to laugh as he struggled. She nabbed another gem from the pile—

_“What_ are you doing?”

Margot and Inigo spun around, attempting to look innocent despite the soul gems sticking obviously out of their mouths. Llarala, arms full of potions and ingredients from Ajira’s tent, regarded them with a mixture of exhaustion, fury, and—if you squinted, and were very optimistic—a touch of amusement.

“Spit them out. Now.”

Margot gestured as if to protest, but her inability to speak coherently undermined her argument before it began.

“_Immediately,_ children.”

Margot yanked the gems out of her mouth. “It was Inigo’s idea!”

Inigo turned away for a second, twisting his jaw around to dislodge the gems, and turned back with a mildly pained expression. “She’s right. My idea.” He grinned. “But I did beat my record.”

Llarala sighed. “Inigo, I don’t actually have any control over the stupid choices you decide to make. But you, Margot—” She glared. “Do you know how upset your parents would be if their only daughter died in such an idiotic way?”

“Mom would think it was funny. And I didn’t die.”

“_Mom_ would bring all the forces of Oblivion down on anything that might hurt you. And that includes me, if you choked on a soul gem on my watch.”

Inigo cocked his head. “Sorry, who did you say your parents were, Margot?”

Llarala turned her stare to him. “Do the names Sheogorath and Akatosh ring a bell?”

Inigo stared. “You don’t mean her actual _parents_ are—”

“I do, actually.”

After a moment of consideration, he nodded. “That sounds like a _great _story. No eating soul gems, Margot.”

Margot opened her mouth to complain, but a quick sideways wink from Inigo shut her up. “Fine, I guess.”


End file.
